1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a wind energy system having a tower, a machine housing located on the tower so as to rotate about its axis and receiving a gear mechanism, a generator, a slip ring arrangement and a brake, and a rotor mounted in the machine housing having at least one rotor blade.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the last few decades, wind power technology has dynamically further developed, but this only relates in average to very large installations for main parallel operations. However, there have been no advances over the past twenty years in the development of small plant systems in the kilowatt range. Therefore, these plants are still very expensive and have consequently not appeared on the market. The use of wind power could play an important part in supplying two billion people having no access to electricity. For this purpose, there is a considerable need for plants in the power range of 1 to 10 kW, but this is only possible if the plants are extremely robust and inexpensive, easy to erect and largely maintenance-free.
Existing small plants are unable to fulfill these demands because they are too expensive and/or too fault-prone. A major problem is to design the individual components required so as to be matched to one another in optimum manner, and which can be joined together appropriately. A reliable plant can only be developed on satisfying this requirement. It is also of decisive importance to be able to manufacture all the components inexpensively using CNC machines and enabling easy, rapid installation. In order to permit an easy erection, it is very advantageous if the plant has a limited head weight.
Most of the presently commercially available small plants are constructed from individual standard components which are screwed to a machine frame. This leads to relatively large subassemblies, which are, therefore, usually very heavy. These components are not matched to the specific needs of wind power utilization so they do not meet the requirements regarding service life and loading. It is common to all of these solutions that they have a considerable head weight, are expensive, and also fault-prone, so that they are unsuitable for more widespread use.
As prior art, particular reference is made to the 1954 German patent 890 480, which discloses a plant construction which is in part integrated, but which has too many components to be screwed together.
Therefore, the problem of the invention is to provide a wind energy system of the aforementioned type in which all the components are matched to one another in optimum manner, and all parts can be compactly joined together so as to provide a lightweight and, in particular, inexpensive machine set or unit.